After about five years of running this series, I have a feeling that I keep writing about the same things over and over again. Sometimes I lose motivation to write: “if I am boring with the same shit, would my readers in the Czech Republic be willing to read about it again?” – I think […]
Author: Tomasz Oryński
Leftist Drivel on Scots and Haggis (Guest: MizLiot)
This is an English version of our polish-language podcast. Burns night is coming. On that day Scottish people sit to the table to enjoy their national cuisine. The most important moment of the evening is cutting the haggis and loud reading of the one of the most famous Scottish poems by their national bard Robert […]
Perhaps re-thinking of our visa politics towards “ordinary Russians” is long overdue?
A sticker with Ukraine appeared on my car just after Russia began its new wave of invasion into Ukraine. I know, it’s just an empty gesture, but I simply wanted to express somehow my solidarity with the victims of Russian imperialism. For the 6 months of 2022, I still lived in Scotland, this sticker was […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 226
The police is not having a good time recently. Everyone is still talking about the chief of police blowing his office with the grenade launcher, and now Gazeta Wyborcza informs about his brother facing five different changes related to a tax scams. Usually, people accused of crimes of that scale are arrested, but in this […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 8: Trains, buses and everything.
One of Elisa’s English language students said that “Britain is the country where everything is organized and buses are always on time”. Oh, how wrong she was. With the bus and rail strikers, the government accuses trade union leaders for “making the public transport unreliable”. But perhaps they should go on strike, because it can […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 225
The Christmas season started with a bang this winter. The bang was big and loud, and took place in the Police National Headquarters. Luckily nobody died, but the explosion caused significant damage to the building. Luckily despite there being through holes between two floors, there was no structural damage, but the cost of repair will […]
You are not so great, Britain. Chapter 6: Trucking hell!
Our guest today is Mat Ireland, driver, podcaster, and writer. We discuss the topic of the infrastructure for truckers in Britain. You can find Mat: – on youtube – on Facebook – the Truck and Driver podcast is here and you can find his book here Related posts: You are not so great Britain. Chapter […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 5: British bureaocracy.
This week Elisa and Tomasz discuss why British bureaucracy is so dysfunctional and what can be done to improve users’ experience in contact with the government, banks, and other institutions. To illustrate problems when talking to automatic voice recognition systems, we used a fragment of a clip from a TV show Burnistoun: https://youtu.be/HbDnxzrbxn4 Related posts: […]
You are not so great Britain. Chapter 4: Home, sweet home. Tiny, mouldy home.
Britons are pround of being one of the richest economy. But are standards of living really that great? We lived in a few countries between us, and we can’t remember topics like “mould”, “leaving rooms unheated to save money”, “single glazing windows” and “struggling to fit double bed into the bedroom” to be topics of […]
Meanwhile in Cuckooland 224
Despite the economic crisis, there is still some money to be done in Poland. And what money it is – it would easily help to beat not only Polish, but even Venezuelan rate of inflation. So how you do it? Related posts: Meanwhile in Cuckooland 217 Meanwhile in Cuckooland 215 Meanwhile in Cuckooland 212 Meanwhile […]